"I love you Blake. Nothing. No amount of time or distance will ever change that."
Blake Rivers is an ICU RN who is on vacation in Monaco to get away from the stress of her job when she meets this green eyed mysterious Monegasque man who instantly ca...
I was awake well before my 7 am alarm went off. Excited to start the day and explore Monaco, I was dressed and out the door with my headphones and a water bottle by 7:15. I stopped downstairs and ate a light breakfast before heading to the address Charles No-Last-Name sent me.
I was wearing a black sports bra and purple running shorts. Since we were going to be outside I decided to put my hair into a ponytail, and threw on my tennis shoes.
The place I was meeting Charles was only 10 minutes away by foot, so I decided to walk there as a warmup.
About halfway there, my phone started ringing. Tatum was FaceTiming me.
"Hey Tay." I greeted her as I was walking down the street.
"Hey B. I'm so excited to see you tonight for dinner! What do you have planned to do today?" I could see she was getting ready for a shoot with a makeup artist and hair stylist working in the frame.
"Me? Oh, I'm actually fixing to go hiking at this place that someone recommended to me."
"That sounds fun. Who recommended it to you?" Tay asked curiously.
I debated on whether or not to tell her I had met a guy. I didn't want her to start freaking out and acting weird. I had just met Charles yesterday, and I didn't even know his last name or anything about him.
"This guy that I met last night talked about how this was a great place to hike at." I nervously responded, not sure how she would take me talking to a random guy on my first day in Monaco.
She looked at me, squinting her eyes at me as she leaned in closer to the phone.
"What guy....?"
I had just made it to the place we were meeting up. As I got closer I could see Charles waving at me in greeting.
"Actually I just made it! Okay, love you, gotta go. Bye!" I hung up the phone before she could even reply.
"Who was that?" Charles asked
"Oh just my cousin. She's in Monaco for work and we were talking about our dinner plans for tonight."
He leads the way as we take off hiking.
We made it a little ways before it had started to warm up. And before I knew it, Charles had taken his tshirt off and had tucked it into the back of his running shorts.
And..... Dios mío... it took everything in me not to stare. I was spot on with my athletic build assumption. Broad toned shoulders that narrowed down into a small waist. And when he turned around I was met with a chiseled chest and a six pack.
If I was going to be hiking all morning, I can't say my view was too bad.
"Okay. This is the halfway mark. It is my favorite view." He said as he walked over to a huge rock and sat down. He turned and looked at me and patted the spot beside him with his hand, motioning for me to sit by him.
I did see the view until I was sitting down beside him. "¡Dios mío! (Oh my God.)"
The view was breathtaking. Mountains on the left, the beautiful crystal blue Mediterranean Sea to the right. I suddenly felt extremely jealous of the Monegasques for having this view every day.
I glanced over at Charles, who was looking at me curiously.
"You know Spanish?"
I nodded my head. "I learned it growing up. My parents made me and my brother both learn a second language. I chose Spanish because it's the second most used language where I'm from."
He smirked. "That's really impressive."
"Yeah well. It comes in handy for my job as well." I shrugged my shoulders at him.
"Most Americans only know English."
"That would be correct. But, I don't just take care of people who speak English. A lot them speak Spanish as their main language. Also I have taken care of some people in the deaf community as well."
He was quiet for a moment. I turned to look at him and raised an eyebrow at him, wanting him to say what was on his mind.
"Let me guess. You know sign language as well?" He said half-jokingly.
As a matter of fact I do know ASL. I signed to him.
He raised is eyebrows at me. Then I continued, "I don't just take care of people who speak English. And I would never want to have that language barrier with a patient of mine. It wouldn't be fair to them to have a delay in care just because they don't speak English."
I turned back to look at the view once more. I grabbed my phone and snapped a few pictures while I was thinking about it, because I'm the worlds worst at not taking pictures.
"Let's take a picture." He says as he snaps me out of thoughts. "It is your first adventure in Monaco after all."
Did he mean... take a picture together..? Or just a picture of me alone? I wasn't sure what he meant until the first person we've seen all morning passes us up on the trail, and he asks them in French to take our picture.
Really should've learned some French, Blake....
He quickly hands them his phone. For some reason they look... shocked? They take his phone and Charles makes his way to stand next to me.
"You can't take a picture without your tour guide, now can you?" He laughs.
I smile at him. "I guess not. But, I'm not a big fan of social media. So I hope it's okay if we just keep this photo to ourselves?" I question hesitantly.
I really wasnt big on social media. I hated the spotlight as much as I hated drama. And I got enough of both of those when I lived with my parents.
We took the picture and he walked back to the stranger, thanked him and got his phone back. But before walking back to me, he stopped to take a selfie with the stranger...
That's odd... why would they ask for a picture with him? I thought to myself.
"This isn't about social media. This is about the experience here, right?" He said as he walked back up to me.
"...right."
"How does this photo look?" He said as he showed me the pic on his phone.
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"Perfect. Experience #1 down. What's next, tour guide?"
